Social science sites of the week

Is the Alternative Vote worth voting for?A debate on the AV referendum hosted by the UCL Constitution Unit and the Centre for British Politics & Public Life at Birkbeck College, 11th April 2011.
Speaking in favour of a ‘yes‘vote: Billy Bragg (singer and political campaigner)
Peter Facey (Chair, Unlock Democracy) Speaking in favour of a ‘no‘vote:
Jane Kennedy (National Organiser of Labour) No to AV Charlotte Vere (Finance Director / National Organiser) ‘No to AV’
See more of our links at http://electionsinthenews.blogspot.com/
Information is loaded on backdoor publishing which specialises in podcasts of academic lectures and conferences. Other new additions are
Professor Brian Cathcart – The Phone-hacking Scandal
Slavoj Zizek – Masterclass – The Limits of Hegel Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities

Economic PredictionsWall Street economists
These two mirror websites provide information on the Economic Predictions Research Project (EPRP) which is being coordinated by the Wall Street Economists Institute and the LSE. End date is December 2012.It is examining the accuracy of financial predictions and financial journalism in the run up to the recession. Topics being covered include information about which top economist did or did not predict the crisis, tracking and analysing predictions made by top think tanks, and considering what can be done to avoid future financial crises. The website provides free access to research findings. It also has a useful collection of links to blogs covering financial and market regulation.

Scitopia
Cross search the research outputs of over 20 leading American scientific organisations to find references and many full text links to papers, reports and articles covering all aspects of science and technology. Contributors include: American Institute of Physics; Institute of Physics Publishing and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. If you are interested in tracing free scientific papers another excellent starting point is
WorldWideScience.org
Developed and is maintained by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), Enables rapid cross-searching of a growing number of national and international scientific databases and major websites.

Talking about the EU
the subject of a recent presentation at the EU databases Users group this interesting blog is maintained by Antonia Mochan Head of Media and the work of the EC Representation in the UK. It offers her personal opinion on the role of social media in promoting the EU in the UK, tips on effective use for communication and the general work. There are links to other major EU bloggers.

Gallica loads French press agency photographs
Excellent French digital library Gallica which provides free access to thousands of items from the national library of France has just added many more photographs from the Rol, Meurisse et Mondial Photo-Presse, see the press release. They include First World War images Colonial exhibitions which offer fascinating insights in the French empire and colonial attitudes during the early 20th century.
Browse other images in the collection.

Index Translationum – World Bibliography of Translation
First created in 1932 by Unesco the Index Translationum is a list of books translated in the world. This web version covers entries from 1979. It includes translations published in 100 member UNESCO states since 1979 (those used are listed on the website). All subject areas from sciences, arts and social sciences are covered. It is possible to select and author and title and investigate what languages it has been translated into! The site also has some basic statistics on translated works including top 50 authors, titles and languages. Check the site for details on transliteration standards and last updates.

Les Enquêtes Collectives du CRH – French historical datasets
The Atelier du Centre de recherches historiques – Revue électronique du CRH is the online journal of the Centre de recherches historiques. The journal website gives access to three historical surveys containing several important datasets for the history of France.
La Statistique Générale de la France They include censuses from 1851 to 1921, industrial censuses and population movements. Data can be downloaded in excel.
L’Enquête agricole agricultural Survey of 1852
L’enquête postale: This survey contains the dataset of the postal survey of 1848.this covers mail volume and management of the postal system.

UK Centre for Tobacco Control studies .
UKCTCS is one of the five Excellence. It is comprised of a network of 9 universities seeking to further research in this area. (Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, UCL London, Nottingham, York, Queen marry London, Stirling, Edinburgh) main focuses are determinants and prevention of smoking, smoking and pregnancy, harm reduction, and smoking cessation. It includes coverage of portrayal and impact of smoking in the media, smoking legislation. It is possible to access papers and reports plus news of ongoing research projects.

Singapore Research Nexus (SRN)
Launched by the National University of Singapore provides free access to information and selected full text research outputs from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the National University of Singapore

Lowell Thomas and Lawrence of Arabia making a legend creating history
An online exhibition created as part of Clio an education organization which specializes in using multimedia.It considers how American journalist help create the myth of Lawrence of Arabia in the 1920s and the impact of the myth on the role Lawrence then went to play in shaping the middle east. With more than 200 images, journal entries, videos and audio journalism, the exhibit explores forces that can create legends, and examines how legends can have significant long-term ramifications.

American Human Development Project
An initiative of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), which is seeking to consider health well-being and opportunity in contemporary America, It is hoping to create a human development index which will offer an alternative to simply measuring progress in terms of money. This will also examine education, opportunities. It is possible to download news reports and data which examine differences across the USA and within states. Users can create interactive graphs of results with data sets from 2008 onwards.

Domesday reloaded
In 1986 the BBC launched the Domesday project.The whole of the UK – including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man – was divided into 23,000 4x3km areas called Domesday Squares or “D-Blocks”. And schools and individuals subnmitted text and photographs offering a snapshot of contemporary life,. This was recorded on cutrting edge laser disks. Now the project has been revisited and the archive loaded on a website.
Search by postcode to view texts and then and now photos. Here are some entries from Barking . Find out top records and games of children at the time.